One in five Germans dipping into savings to get by

Nearly one in five people in Germany have had to draw on their savings to cover everyday costs as rising inflation cuts into their purchasing power, a survey by the Kantar polling institute published on Tuesday found.

According to the survey of 2,000 people, 19.4% of respondents said they were using their savings to get by.

Some 12.3 per cent of respondents said they did not have any money in reserve but could manage by tightening their belts, while 8% said they would have to find another job or government assistance because they had no money to fall back on.

By contrast, 57.4 per cent of respondents said they could manage without having to dip into savings.

German consumer prices, harmonised to compare with other European Union countries, were up 11.6 per cent in October.